ALTAMONTE SPRINGS — A homebuilders' association is balking at having developers pay city impact fees to buy library books.

The Home Builders Association of Mid-Florida objects to the city's plan to raise $350,000 over 20 years to improve the Altamonte Springs Public Library.

In a letter to City Manager Phil Penland, HBA vice president James Baker said the park and recreation fee ordinance, approved in December, fails to identify specific improvements to the library.

Also, he said the fees are inappropriate because libraries are not essential services like roads and sewage plants, the same points the HBA raised when it challenged a similar impact fee the county was considering.

The fees would pay for new books and a proposed expansion of the library on Maitland Avenue, Penland said. The average fee is between $29 and $40 per household, depending on the number of bedrooms and the location.

Penland said Tuesday that a work session will be set up in October to discuss the objections. However, Penland said he considers library books a quality-of-life item essential to the community. City commissioners will decide whether to act on the objections.

HBA raised similar objections in June to a library impact fee proposed by Seminole County. The county backed down after meeting with the builders and decided not to approve the $54-per-house fee.

John Howell, the attorney representing HBA, said Tuesday his research shows the Altamonte Springs fees could be illegal because they do not follow state law. He said the city failed to provide a background study that showed a connection between new growth and the need for additional library books.

Also, he said the city did not prove that newcomers, who would pay the fee in the form of higher prices for new homes, would benefit by the books. Howell said state law requires cities prove an essential need for services paid for through impact fees.

''The benefit may exist but it does not necessarily flow back to the payer of the fees,'' Howell said. ''New homeowners must use roads, sewer and water plants but nobody has to use the library or read. They can go to a bookstore in the mall or a newsstand to fulfill their need for reading.''

County commissioners agreed with its impact fee advisory committee's finding that libraries are amenities, rather than essential public services. The county had planned to use impact fees to buy books for its five new libraries. Its goal is to place one book on the shelves for each of the county's 250,000 residents.

They said, though, the funds to keep the shelves stocked with books and other resource materials should come from sales and property taxes.